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Ridley Mayhew
Ridley Marie Mayhew is a friend and protégé of Jack Harmon and a student at Lexington High School. She is introduced in Season Five as an irrepressible and highly intelligent con artist and rock singer who fails to rob Jack several times but later forms a truce with him. She is played by actress and The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen. Life Before Glee (Spoilers From Here On) Ridley was born in 1996 to Elise Mayhew and an, as of yet, unknown man. For most of her life, Ridley was raised by her mother and her partner-in-crime, Alan Caldwell, in various neighborhoods around New York City. Due to the hostile relationship between Elise and her parents, Ridley has never met her extended family and none of them appear to have any interest in her situation. Growing up, Ridley was trained by Elise and Alan in the art of the con as well as a handful of other illegal skills such as pickpocketing, forgery, and so on. She was mostly homeschooled by the pair in her early years (which led to her love of literature) and was often kept around their art gallery in order to guilt or charm potential clients. She also developed a love and talent for music at an early age, which was encouraged by Alan. However, Elise wanted Ridley to concentrate on art forgery and forced her to take art lessons. To this day, Ridley is an artist of above-average skill, but she prefers to concentrate on music. For most of her life, as well, she had many inconsistent father figures in the form of the wealthy men her mother had relationships with. For the most part, Elise's flings never lasted more than a year or two. However, she eventually married Byron Holbrook, an extremely successful movie producer, when Ridley was eleven. Ridley and Elise both truly loved Byron and Ridley made her mother swear that she would stop conning him after they were married, a promise which she's not sure her mother actually kept. When Ridley was thirteen, Alan and Elise were arrested for art forgery after their newest employee, a brilliant but very forgetful forger named Harrison, accidentally sold an untreated fake Goya that was in her mother's office. Though Elise, Alan, and Harrison feigned innocence, their combined assets were frozen and they were each arrested on a count of fraud and forgery (the prosecutors accused them of dozens more counts of each, but they couldn't be proven) and were sentenced to five years in prison. Due to Elise's high status, the trial received a fair bit of media attention (and led to the press nicknaming her the "Park Avenue Vixen"). As a result, Byron divorced Elise and Ridley was placed into foster care. For the next few years, Ridley was bounced around multiple foster homes in New York City until she was placed in the home of Craig and Erica Robinson, a kind-hearted but somewhat ineffective couple in Queens, eight months prior to her first appearance on the show. Currently, Ridley is still living with them and is attending Lexington High School, a specialized public school that focuses on nurturing students' creativity. Season Five In New New York, Ridley is introduced as Jack's criminally-inclined protégé, who befriended him after a few failed attempts to rob him, and is making some attempts to reform. It is also revealed that, though Ridley has managed to form decent relationships with most of Jack's friends, she is still having trouble getting Rachel to like her. Frustrated, she turns to Jack for advice about Rachel but, due to being distracted by the backstage drama with 15 Minutes, he proves to be unhelpful. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Ridley takes Rachel out to lunch at the Spotlight Diner in an attempt to bond with her. However, her efforts are in vain as Rachel takes the opportunity to insult Ridley by saying that "the only way she can make friends is by conning them" and that Jack has only been spending time with her because he feels sorry for her. In an effort to not lose her temper, Ridley refrains from defending herself. However, Rachel takes the opportunity to make a crack about Ridley's incarcerated mother. Furious, Ridley decides to call her out by commandeering the stage at the diner and sings Bad Reputation to a mortified Rachel. After she finishes the number, Ridley quickly pays for the meal and walks out of the diner without another word. Ridley lays low for the rest of the episode until Jack shows up at her school and says that Rachel told him about what happened at the diner. Annoyed, Ridley explains her side of the story and tells Jack that she's sick of being judged. Jack then says he'll talk to her, but Ridley tells him not to bother because she's done playing nice with people like Rachel. She is then seen pickpocketing a distracted businessman on the subway during Rachel's performance of People, signaling a return to her thieving ways. Ridley first appears in Bash running around her foster home and mumbling about being late for school. However, before she can leave, she is stopped by her foster parents, Craig and Erica Robinson (played by Hugh Laurie and Jennifer Morrison) who tell her that they don't want her going out by herself at night, due to the increased number of hate crimes around the city. Ridley tries to protest, but Craig cuts her off and tells her to get to school. However, she is surprised to find Jack hanging around outside of her foster home and, after he pickpockets a wallet she recently stole, berates her for returning to her old habits. She tries to take the wallet back and tell him off, but is shut down when Jack tells her about his own efforts to stay on the straight and narrow in high school. She then agrees to stop stealing for the time being, before getting a text from Erica reminding her that her biweekly meeting with her social worker is in a few days. She is then introduced to Jack's costar, Kylie Weber (played by Brittany Underwood), who she is instantly smitten with, and tries to help Jack teach her how to spot phonies. However, Jack quickly pulls her aside and chides her for flirting with his costar before warning her not to take advantage of Kylie. Though Ridley appears to agree with Jack, she is shown crossing her fingers behind her back. Ridley is at home when she gets the call about Kurt's bashing. However, she decides to keep her distance in order to give her new friends some space. She then decides to defy her foster parents' new rule and goes to meet Henley Jameson (played by Chaley Rose), a well-connected fence and Ridley's oldest friend, and several of their other friends in a warehouse in Red Hook. The pair catch up and sing Ain't No Rest for the Wicked before discussing her mother's impending release. Ridley admits to her friend that she's been worrying about whether or not she's going to end up in jail like her mom. Ridley then appears at her biweekly meeting with her social worker, Amanda Yates (played by Tamara Braun), and tells her that things are starting to go well for her because she finally has some new friends and a life that she likes. Amanda seems pleased by this, but tells Ridley to think long and hard about what she really wants before her mother gets out of prison. After the meeting, she goes to see Kylie and apologizes for her behavior when they met, only for Kylie to kiss her before the screen fades to black. Ridley appears in Tested hanging around the backstage door of the theater as she waits for Jack to finish rehearsing. She admits, via voice over, that she was caught off-guard by Kylie's kiss and has been going a little crazy because the two haven't spoken since that night. When Jack finally appears, Ridley wastes no time asking him about her—only for him to remind her that Kylie is trying to focus on nailing her off-Broadway debut and doesn't need any unnecessary distractions. Ridley nods understandingly and promises Jack that she'll give Kylie her space. However, her promise to Jack quickly becomes more difficult when Kylie starts texting Ridley and asking to hang out with her. Finding herself unable to get the ingénue out of her head, Ridley agrees to meet Kylie for dinner at the Spotlight Diner. At the diner, Ridley and Kylie bond over their shared love of musicals. However, when Kylie asks her about her family, Ridley panics and claims that she lives with her aunt and uncle because her parents are almost constantly away on business trips. She is then surprised with Kylie begins subtly flirting with her, and admits to the ingénue that she's been driving her crazy since the kiss. The pair then sing the harmonies of Let's Wait Awhile, which ends with Ridley innocently kissing Kylie's cheek. Ridley and Kylie then meet a few days later in Central Park and discuss what's going on between them. They mutually admit that they want to date each other, but agree to take things slow. Ridley smiles happily at this new arrangement, before grabbing Kylie's hand as they leave the park together. In Opening Night, Ridley and Kylie are seen fervently making out on the couch in Kylie's dressing room until Jack comes in and makes a joke about paying to watch them. Annoyed, Ridley throws a pillow at him and forces him to leave. Once he's gone, Ridley complains about Jack ruining the mood before she leans in to kiss Kylie again, only for her girlfriend to pull away abruptly. Kylie then admits that she's almost relieved that Jack showed up, because she's not ready to go any further just yet. Kylie then tells her confused girlfriend that, though she wants to have sex with her, she wants to focus her energy on the show first before she takes a new step in their relationship. Ridley is somewhat disappointed by this, but admires Kylie's drive and tells her she's okay with waiting until Kylie is ready. When she finally leaves the dressing room, Ridley comes face-to-face with Jack and Kylie's understudies, Rafe Baxter and Caitlin Marconi (played by Benjamin Walker and Jen Lilley), who makes several snide remarks about the girls and their relationship to Ridley's face. However, an infuriated Ridley is pulled away by Jack before she can do anything violent or stupid. Two days before the opening night of 15 Minutes, Ridley gets a call from Kylie asking her to meet at Central Park. When she arrives, Kylie angrily informs her that she knows the truth about her family and yells at her for lying. Ridley tries to explain herself, but Kylie cuts her off before she can get a word in and storms off. To make matters worse, Ridley gets a call from a furious Jack, who tells her that Caitlin and Rafe told Kylie about Ridley's past in order to shake her confidence, before he coldly tells her to fix the mess her lies have created or he'll make things even worse for her. Hurt by Jack's words and angry at herself for screwing up, as she puts it, "the best thing that's happened to her in a long time" Ridley goes to a midtown bar called Empire. However, after she chats with the bartender, it quickly made apparent that Ridley chose the bar because it's one that Kylie likes. When Kylie does finally make an appearance, Ridley commandeers the stage and sings Whataya Want From Me to her as a way to ask for another chance. The performance moves Kylie, and the pair have a talk about being honest with each other before making up. Having repaired her relationship, Ridley then attends the premiere of 15 Minutes and applauds her friend and girlfriend during their performance of Train Wreck. She is also there to congratulate them afterwards and gives Kylie and Jack congratulatory hugs. The pair then join Jack and and his friends at the gay bar, where Ridley hits it off with Santana, before heading off to celebrate on their own. The pair spend the night at Kylie's apartment and read the reviews together before Kylie takes her back to her foster home. In a moment of genuine trust, Ridley offers to let Kylie come inside the house—only for the pair to be greeted by Amanda and Ridley's convict mother, Elise Mayhew (played by Heather Locklear), who teasingly asks her daughter if she missed her. The Back-Up Plan begins directly after the previous episode, with a shocked Ridley getting a surprise visit from her mother. She then introduces her confused girlfriend to Elise and questions her mother about her release—as she's not due out for a few more months. Elise reveals that she and her co-conspirators were released on probation for good behavior. Kylie then excuses herself from the reunion, much to her girlfriend's dismay. After Kylie leaves, Ridley the adults agree that she will stay at the foster home until her mother gets back on her feet. The next day, Ridley texts Jack and asks him to meet her at the diner. However, Jack moves the location to an Italian restaurant without any explanation. When she arrives at the restaurant, Jack reveals that the diner was robbed the night before and that the police have no leads. Without any prompting, Ridley denies stealing from the diner—only for Jack to reveal that he doesn't suspect her, but Rachel does. Though annoyed by this revelation, Ridley keeps her cool and tells Jack about her mother's sudden release. She then goes to the apartment that Elise is temporarily staying at and is happily greeted by Alan Caldwell (played by Jack Wagner), her mother's best friend and partner-in-crime. Ridley then questions her mother about the robbery at the diner, only for Elise to causally comment that she needed the money way more than the diner did. Furious at her mother for putting her friends' jobs at risk, she demands that she return the money—only for Elise to coldly shut the idea down. Frustrated, Ridley goes to Washington Square Park and performs Undermine. Ridley, Jack, and Kylie later meet up in Central Park. The girls convince a distracted Jack to talk to Elise who, as Ridley puts it, "has never met a rich boy she didn't like." However, when she and Ethan Pressman go to the penthouse to meet up with Jack the next morning for brunch, Jack answers the door and is uncharacteristically underdressed. Curious, the pair try to weasel information out of Jack—only for Elise to stroll out of his bedroom wearing only a bathrobe before she casually flirts with Jack. Furious that they slept together, Ridley then storms out of the penthouse and berates Jack for getting conned, only for him to admit that he kept his wits about him the entire time and that the tryst meant absolutely nothing. Seeing an opportunity to take matters into her own hands, Ridley asks Jack to keep her mother distracted while she goes back to her apartment. Jack complies and Ridley successfully steals back the diner's money. After some deliberation, she texts Rachel and returns the money to the diner without so much as a word to the diva. Rachel then follows her to the New York Public Library, where she apologizes for misjudging her. The pair then agree to try to be friends and go back to the now Elise-free penthouse together, which shocks Jack. Right as the episode ends, Ridley pulls Jack aside and asks him what he knows about stealing from off-shore bank accounts. Personality Once described as "a future criminal mastermind in the making." Ridley is highly intelligent, resourceful, stubborn, manipulative, and dangerously impulsive. Due to being raised by con artists, she is, by nature, very guarded and works hard to protect her secrets. She is also is a skilled liar who would do almost anything in the name of self-perseverance. In addition, she exudes a rebellious persona which is only compounded by her sardonic sense of humor. She is also, much like her mother, a career criminal who has no problem with blending the rules to serve her needs. As such, she often pickpockets random strangers and runs short cons either for profit or to keep herself from growing bored. One of her most profitable schemes is her "forgery market" (which is mostly made up of faked doctors notes, hall passes, and absence forms) which she runs from a disused janitor's closet at her high school. However, despite how she appears, Ridley is not entirely self-serving or hard-hearted. Despite her inability to totally trust either, she loves her mother dearly and tries her best to get along with her foster family. In addition, she shows instances of true loyalty to the people that matter to her, such as Jack, Kylie, and Alan, and tries to be a better person for their sake. Songs Solos * Radioactive (The Mark) * Bad Reputation (New New York) * Whataya Want From Me (Opening Night) * Undermine (The Back-Up Plan) * Oh, Pretty Woman (Old Dog New Tricks) Duets * Ain't No Rest for the Wicked (with Henley; Bash) Group Numbers * Let's Wait Awhile (with Mercedes, Sam, Artie, Julie, and Kylie; Tested) Running Gags *Most people, upon meeting Ridley for the first time, mishear her name as "Ripley" or "Rigby" and will sometimes make an allusion to the song "Eleanor Rigby", the Alien franchise, or Ripley's Believe It or Not. Ridley will then always correct the mistaken party. *When she's stressed, Ridley has a habit of stealing small shiny objects (keys, silverware, etc.). However, her friends have noticed this and make her empty her pockets before she leaves their respective apartments. Crimes Committed * Attempted to steal Jack's wallet, only to get her hands on the decoy (The Mark) * Stole Jack's watch, only to accidentally damage it in the process (The Mark) * Followed Jack and Kurt, while wearing a disguise, to a club in Hell's Kitchen and tried to steal Jack's wallet (The Mark) * Broke into her mother's apartment (The Back-Up Plan) * Stole back the money that her mother had taken from the Spotlight Diner and returned it (The Back-Up Plan) * Broke into Stephen Summers’ house with Jack (Old Dog New Tricks) Trivia * Most of Ridley's solos involve her playing the guitar to some extent. * Her most prized possession is an all black Fender Telecaster, otherwise known as Morty, which was a gift from Alan. * Her major musical influences are Joan Jett, Fall Out Boy, Heart, Pat Benetar, and Pink. * She likes to swear in Mandarin. (revealed in New New York) * She spent nearly four months in a juvenile detention center after she stole a sapphire ring from one of her former foster mothers. (Opening Night) * She has developed a bad habit stealing from the New York Public Library because she generally can't afford to pay her rather costly overdue book fines. (The Back-Up Plan) * Ridley is, secretly, incredibly nerdy and is very fond nearly anything sci-fi and fantasy-related. This includes, but is not limited to: Star Wars, Sailor Moon, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Pokémon, Lord of the Rings, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. * She has a brown belt in judo. * Her signature style of music is mostly pop punk or alternative rock. However, she is also very fond of pop, country, and show tunes and likes to play acoustic covers of multiple genres when she busks. * Her favorite comic book characters are Deadpool and Harley Quinn. * She has claimed to be distantly related to George C. Parker, a notorious con man who made his living selling New York's public landmarks to unwary immigrants, and Cassie Chadwick, a woman who defrauded several U.S. banks out of millions of dollars by claiming to be an illegitimate daughter and heiress of Andrew Carnegie. * She possesses a near-encyclopediac knowledge about Joss Whedon's work. * She had no idea who her father is, though she often jokes that he's a famous and/or wealthy man. She has admitted that she occasionally wonders about his identity and strongly suspects that it's Alan. Category:Characters Category:Singers Category:LGBT Characters Category:Criminals